hey guys just wondering how you remove the vents on the fabia

cheers felix

The ones on the outside just prise out gently. Not sure about the centre ones as I've not removed those on the Fabia.

Centre vent is the same, All held in place by tension.

Just remember to disconnect the hazard switch before fully removing the vents!

Best method I found was to wrap a flat bladed screwdriver with a rag and by pushing down on the dash beside the vent (it is "sort of" spongey) you can get the screwdriver in to lever it out. Do this gently on all sides.

Or use a plastic trim lever.

Or use a plastic trim lever.

... or an old credit card or a filler spreader/spatula...

cool cool cheers fella wanna paint them black magic

Good thread, might help me get one of my slats back into place. A mate of mine fell asleep in the car the other day with her feet against the vent so I had to lean across and close it, thus twisting one of the slats out of place so now it doesn't close properly...

Probably find one of the pins has snapped off if that's the case.

Ive just done a repair of one this weekend. I was expecting a snapped pin but it was actually the main plastic part which had snapped. A small amount of glue then waiting 24 hours for it to dry before reassembly and now its as good as new.

I repaired one on the Octavia earlier this year with a snapped pin. The pin was still there inside the vent. Again, a small amount of glue and waiting for it to dry fully has done the trick.

Not sure. The slat still turns, but it's out of sync with the rest. So when the rest are closed, that one's open, and vice versa. Might go and have a wee crack at it now with a flat screwdriver and a cloth.

Got the surround off OK, how does the actual vent come out though? Can't see in the dark, but it's not pulling straight out and I don't want to totally break it...

Is it still in the car? It should all come out of the dash in one piece.

Yeah, I teased the surround off and that came out nice and easily, so I assumed it was designed in such a way that the surround came off and then you attacked the other bit.....................from that reply, I guess not though

if you've got the surround off, then the vent fins come out from one side. Lift out the side that's got the single pin, opposite the open/close wheel. Then pull away in the direction of the length of the vent (if that makes sense)

The main part is only held in by spring clips. It should pull out. I'd guess that it's been out before and the last person to do it didn't refit the surround properly.

Not exactly a surprise with this car, tbh. It's one bodge after another :(

Got it out now with a knife to persuade the two spring clips down. It wasn't a missing pin, the slat that was playing up was actually slotted into a broken slot. However, with my "persuasion" now I've broken the pin off another one, which promptly fell out somewhere. So I'll bodge this one for now, and I've taken the part number off it so I can ring TPS and put it on the list of sundries I need...ever regret buying a car because there are several niggly bits? Yeah.

See if someone breaking a Fabia has a vent they'll sell you?

Not exactly a surprise with this car, tbh. It's one bodge after another :(

Got it out now with a knife to persuade the two spring clips down. It wasn't a missing pin, the slat that was playing up was actually slotted into a broken slot. However, with my "persuasion" now I've broken the pin off another one, which promptly fell out somewhere. So I'll bodge this one for now, and I've taken the part number off it so I can ring TPS and put it on the list of sundries I need...ever regret buying a car because there are several niggly bits? Yeah.

Not necessarily a bodge issue mate,I had the same trouble with mine,and I have owned the car from new,the outer trim came off,and I had to force the clips down to get the rest out,which came out and dispensed all its components all over the interior,took me ages to find em all.

See if someone breaking a Fabia has a vent they'll sell you?

Yeah, that's option two, but Fabias seem pretty rare in local scrappies. I'll keep an eye out though as the dash vents should be the same for all models with that colour dash I'm guessing, and maybe put a post up on here. It's actually not so bad, I got the thing back in fine so it doesn't look tampered with but it'll probably fall to pieces the next time I use the knob to close it

I learnt the hard way from my polo about removing the vents without caution. All the slats fell out and snapped multiple tabs.

The fabia was a little easy to work with. A flexi credit card is your friend for getting them out of the dash, ease it round the corners almost pops them out. The. Just gently pry the tabs on the surrounds to separate them from the vents.

Finished job:

I'm gunna do the surround of my headunit also, as it's currently a block of boring black plastic. Will finish it off nicely I think.

ooh! That looks nice! I might have to have a play with that in the spring!

Sorry for bumping an old thread but I'm confused, does the surround come out on it's own or the whole vent come out?As I wanna wrap the surround's this week so gonna set about removing them soon.

They will all come out although sometimes the internal vent bit sticks and doesn't come out right away when you apply leverage to the frame. Needs teasing out from all sides, using the sponginess of the dashboard surrounding the vent to get in behind.

They will all come out although sometimes the internal vent bit sticks and doesn't come out right away when you apply leverage to the frame. Needs teasing out from all sides, using the sponginess of the dashboard surrounding the vent to get in behind.

Exactly this, it needs teasing out, take your time as its quite prone to snapping. sorry to go off topic, BTW Jason, were you in hereford the other day, at the local KFC?